


Part Two - Change Your Heart

by doctor_badass



Series: Merthuretta Series [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctor_badass/pseuds/doctor_badass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlina and Arthuretta have been courting for a while now, behind the backs of Camelot's royal court. But now, an obstacle has arisen. Glen just returned from helping his mother, and Arthuretta has mixed feelings about this new arrival...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Part Two - Change Your Heart

Arthuretta woke slowly on this particular morning, not opening her eyes for several minutes, and absorbing her perfect world. When she finally widened her eyes to the soft light of the early morning, she marveled at the out-of-focus ceiling, which was the top of her canopy bed. The usually stark reds and golds of the fabric were changed by the sun’s new rays, lightened somehow, so Arthuretta felt that she was seeing what was happening to the sky outside without even getting up.

Her reverie was interrupted by a faint breeze on her ear. She smiled, knowing that if she was who she was just a day or two ago, she would have leapt out of bed at this, wildly swinging the sword she kept under her bed, and sometimes under her pillow. Her new self, however, knew that this human breath was a sign of happiness to come. 

Flipping onto her side, she let her eyes focus on what they most wanted to see; Merlina, her servant, and, lately, girlfriend.

“I’ve been watching you for _hours_ ,” Merlina sighed, tucking a stray lock of Arthuretta’s long hair behind her ear. 

“And I’m sure you’ve enjoyed every second of it,” she replied, lightly pressing her lips to Merlina’s forehead. 

“Would you, if you had to stare at your girlfriend’s nose for the past two hours?” Merlina giggled. “And not a very pretty one, at that!”

Arthuretta gasped. “Now _that’s_ taking it too far!” she roared, throwing off the sheets so she could pounce on her. Pinning down Merlina’s pale arms with her legs, she proceeded to pinch her bare torso, knowing that Merlina wasn’t ticklish after several attempts at an  ambush earlier.

“Say...you...think my...nose...is...pretty!” Arthuretta howled between pinches. Merlina, gasping with laughter, shook her head wildly, struggling to release herself from Arthuretta’s iron grip.

Realizing that this tactic would not work, Arthuretta resorted to another; one she _knew_ would get a reaction out of her lover. Slowly releasing her hold on Merlina’s arms, she leaned down. Merlina, curious as to what she was doing, stopped struggling. Arthuretta bent slowly forward, until her face was at Merlina’s neck. She planted one light kiss under her ear, and then another. She continued on, working her way around Merlina’s neck, and then down her chest.

Merlina gasped, her eyes flying open, as she clutched at Arthuretta’s back. “You do know that this will only make me prolong letting you get what you want?” she breathed, kissing Arthuretta on the shoulder, her resistance to her longing gradually weakening. 

Arthuretta merely responded with a sly look before disappearing under the covers completely. Merlina propped herself up, preparing for a glorious repeat of the night before, when a knocking quickly pulled her out of her pleasure. 

She pulled the covers off, widening her eyes at Arthuretta in panic. As the door opened cautiously, she made a last minute decision, whipping the heavy blankets over the princess and hoping that their visitor would not notice the lump in the bed.

Peering around the door was an unfamiliar face. Seeing the naked girl in the queen’s bed who was so clearly _not_ the princess, the man, thinking he had the wrong room, blushed viciously.

“Erm, sincerest apologies, madam, I, er, was told that this was the princess’s quarters. I’m afraid I have been misled,” he stammered, hastily backing out of the room.

“Oh, no!” Merlina tried to find her voice. “You have the right room.” The man appeared immensely relieved.

“My lady, you have changed much since I last saw you,” the man said, struggling to not let his eyes wander. 

“Ah, um, no,” she exhaled. “I work for the princess, you see, and um, well, she is very, um-” Merlina tried to ignore Arthuretta’s pinches on her legs. “PICKY. Yes, picky woman, and she, um, wants her bed warmed, and that’s my job.”

“She wants her bed warmed in the morning?” the stranger asked, still fighting with himself to keep his gaze on her face, and not the sheet that covered her breasts.

“She’s a big fan of naps,” Merlina improvised, receiving a kiss on her foot from the hidden princess for her cleverness. The man nodded, then seemed to realize his business there.

“The Lord Morgan sent me to deliver this message,” he pulled out a scroll, about to stride over to Merlina to properly turn it over, when he remember that the recipient was naked and he was a man. 

“Um, just leave it on the floor,” the handmaiden said, desperate to end the awkward conversation. The man hastily dropped the scroll, and had just begun to back out again when Merlina remembered to actually be polite. “What was your name again?” she practically shouted.

“Ah, of course, my apologies, madam” he once again entered the room, and bowed deeply, a very considerate move, as he and Merlina were both servants. “My name, fair lady, is Glen.” With that, he bowed once more and closed the door firmly behind him.

Arthuretta immediately popped up from beneath the covers, her blond hair a bird’s nest. 

“My darling,” she cried, throwing her arms dramatically around the shoulders of Merlina. “I am forever in your debt!” Not one for having others in her debt, Merlina grinned. 

“I know of a way you can pay me back,” she whispered with a sly smile in Arthuretta’s ear, pushing her down onto the fluffy blankets so she, for once, could take charge.

 

The message for Lord Morgan, as it turns out, was for both of the girls. He wanted to duel Arthuretta, while she was in disguise. Merlina was needed to dress Arthuretta in her armor, but was also wanted for “moral support” for Morgan.

“Gracious,” Merlina complained as she read the message. “He probably just wants to catch me alone after the fight to kiss me and confess his everlasting love with poetry or something else dreadful.” Arthuretta gagged, imagining her sworn enemy swoon over her in such a way.

“ _How_ do you put up with that loathsome man?” she asked as she and Merlina walked to the stables, where they would prepare for the fight. Merlina rolled her eyes at her.

“He’s honestly not that bad,” she halfheartedly explained.

“In bed, you mean?” Arthuretta said with a completely straight face. 

“Better than _you_ , at least,” she snapped, a smile threatening to appear on her mouth, which was caught in a pout. Arthuretta burst out laughing, attracting the attention of several passerby.

“I seriously doubt that’s possible,” she crowed, grasping onto Merlina’s hand for a fraction of a second to let her know how much she loved her. “Well, damn. I certainly do know how to pick the feisty ones.” Merlina raised her eyebrows at her.

“And _I_ know how to pick the arrogant ones. Goodness, woman. Your mind is in the gutter today!” She flounced off, acting like some of the princesses that occasionally visited the castle.

 

When the battle was over, Arthuretta sauntered away, unharmed, while Morgan had to be supported by Merlina due to a possible sprain, although she swore later that Gairess found nothing wrong with him. Arthuretta commented that that was simply part of the “moral support” that he had requested of her. True to her word, when Morgan was left alone in his tent with Merlina, he pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper from somewhere in his armor and read a piece of terrible poetry, then moved in for a kiss.

Merlina came out a half hour later, clothes rumpled and with a distinctly annoyed expression on her face. She grabbed a smirking Arthuretta by the ear and dragged her into an empty alleyway. 

“I take everything back,” she muttered between furious kisses as the two struggled to keep their clothes on. “You are _much_ better in bed.”

The group had decided to lunch together in Morgan’s tent, where the seating arrangements proved to be rather awkward. Morgan sat next to Merlina, and Arthuretta sat across from them, with Glen at her side. The entire time, Morgan was nuzzling Merlina’s neck, Merlina was making eyes at Arthuretta, Arthuretta was glaring at Morgan, and Glen tried to look anywhere but Merlina in an attempt to erase the memory of her early-morning nakedness from his mind. Glen’s loyalty to his master was unbreakable, and even though he was sure that Morgan had the same wonderful memories of Merlina’s breasts as he, it felt wrong to lust after her.

“Sooo, Glen,” Merlina said, in the hopes of starting a real conversation. “Where have you been that has been keeping you from your job with the Lord Morgan for so long?”

“My mother ran what used to be my father’s blacksmith shop, and I’ve been helping her run it. Recently, she was killed, and I decided to return to Lord Morgan at his request,” Glen said, not looking at Merlina the entire time, but instead at Arthuretta, who glared at him.

“Glen is very talented in the forge,” Morgan announced to an unreceptive crowd.

“Maybe you can make me a new sword. I dented my current one pretty badly on Lord Morgan’s leg here,” she chuckled, looking at Merlina the whole time. Now, it was Glen’s turn to glare at Arthuretta. 

Any further attempts at a real conversation were abandoned after that, the party going their separate ways. Merlina, desperately in need of a change of clothes, returned to the rooms she shared with Gairess, whom she hadn’t seen in several days. 

“Well, I’d expect that you were with the princess,” Gairess said as Merlina tiptoed in, not even looking up from her work. “And I’d also expect that you don’t want to talk about it.” Merlina continued on, used to the old woman practically being able to read her mind.

“But,” Gairess spoke on, finally turning to face the young girl. “This is, I’m afraid, a matter that needs discussing.” Merlina grimaced, her hand on the door that led to her room, so close to safety. 

“You should feel lucky that Uthra hasn’t found out yet, you know,” the physician said, taking a seat in a rickety old chair. “She would have your head if she found out. There’s no point in denying it, either”

Merlina spun to face her mentor. “Denying what?” she asked, her face the very image of innocence.

“Your affections for the princess Arthuretta, Merlina,” Gairess calmly replied. Merlina choked on air. Gairess merely sighed and rested her head in her hand as she watched Merlina frantically choke. “I assume this means you understand what I’m saying, so we can both go back to whatever it is that we’re...doing,” she said, going back to her work.

This didn’t help Merlina’s case at all. Her eyes widening at Gairess’s comment, she quickly backed into her room, closed and locked the door, and flung herself into hastily packing her things.

 

The princess, meanwhile, was in a similar predicament. Her mother was reported to have been looking for her, so she was throwing anything that might have been evidence of Merlina’s overnight stays in her room. Grumbling, she wished her maidservant was there now, to help erase evidence of herself.

There came a knock on the door. Arthuretta made a desperate last-second attempt at cleaning up, tossing the covers over the unmade bed. _Close enough_ , she thought, smiling proudly at the lumpy sheets, looking nothing at all like how Merlina would have made it.

“My lady,” came a soft voice from the doorway. Arthuretta looked in surprise, for this gentle sound could never have come from her mother’s permanently frowning mouth. It was, of all people, Glen.

“I’m terribly sorry for the intrusion, but the Lord Morgan wishes to congratulate you on your victory today and hopes you will join him again soon,” he said in a rather forced voice. 

Arthuretta scrutinized him. “Are you alright, Glen?” she asked.

“I’m...fine, my lady.”

“Wait, you’re not bent out of shape about that sword comment, are you? Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“How could I? You’re princess Arthuretta. Besides, you didn’t give me a chance, you just assumed that all I could accomplish was fix the weapons of the rich.”

“How was I supposed to know if you didn’t tell me?”

“You shouldn’t need to be told to think of someone other than yourself, you're not a child.”

“Is there anything else you’d like to say to me? Please, I’d like to hear it! If there’s something you’d like to say to me, please, don’t let me stop you.”

“You don’t have any idea, do you?”

“About what?”

“About how rude and arrogant you can be!” Glen shouted, his hands clenched at his sides.

It was at this exact moment that Merlina decided to burst in, having heard yelling from the passage outside. The scene she encountered inside was somewhat terrifying. Glen was leaning forward, glaring at Arthuretta across the room, and his opponent was clutching a pillow so hard Merlina was afraid it would pop, and matching the glare she was receiving.

“Erm,” Merlina began, wondering if she would have to restrain Arthuretta from strangling the manservant. But Glen stopped her from doing anything that might result in a black eye.

“The Lord Morgan, once again, thanks you both,” he said stiffly, bowing and quickly exiting the room, allowing Merlina a quick smile as he left. She closed and bolted the door after him to prevent any further fights.

“What a complete _prat_!” Arthuretta screamed, throwing the pillow across the room and nearly breaking a window. Merlina knew not to go near her when she was like this, knowing that she would be banished from the room for several hours for doing so. But this time was different. Arthuretta had _tears_ , actual _tears_ , running down her face. This never happened, not even when a friend or family member died. 

The princess stumbled over to the fireplace, clutching the mantle and sobbing hysterically. Merlina had absolutely no idea what to do, until the woman, now looking like a small girl, turned to her, with tears streaming down her face, and reached out her arms, making her look even younger than usual.

Merlina raced to her side, catching her as she collapsed onto the cold stone floor. She covered her wet face with kisses, not even caring, tasting the salt of emotion on her only love’s face. 

 

A fire now lit in the once empty fireplace, Merlina stroked Arthuretta’s hair as they lay together beneath a blanket, dragged from the bed. 

“Do you think I’m rude and arrogant?” the princess asked timidly, staring into the fire.

“Always,” Merlina smiled, continuing to run her fingers through her hair. Arthuretta turned to look at her, with an unsmiling face.

“No, honestly,” she said, looking fearfully into her maidservant’s eyes, waiting for the answer.

Merlina sighed, rolling onto her back. “You’re the princess of Camelot. It’s all you know how to be.” Arthuretta inhaled deeply preparing to cry once more. “But,” Merlina continued. “When it comes to the people of Camelot, you are as kind as they come.”Arthuretta smiled, satisfied at this response. “I’ll try to be better,” she promised.

“No, you won’t,” Merlina remarked, pulling on Arthuretta’s ear gently.

“You’re right, I most definitely won’t!” she giggled, pinching Merlina on her bony shoulder. “Are we going to solve all of our problems by making love, do you think?”

“I certainly hope so,” Merlina said. “But when it comes to fighting with Glen, I’d rather you just send him an apologetic letter or something.”

“Or maybe a poem!” Arthuretta suggested, hugging her best friend.


End file.
